


Know Your Place

by ladydaffodil



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Ink Has A Soul, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, cream is here too, errorink focused, this is a highschool au for gods sake, will add more characters while i progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:49:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21521710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladydaffodil/pseuds/ladydaffodil
Summary: Ink and Error share a class in Mathematics. Ink keeps taking Error's favorite seat. War commences.
Relationships: Cross/Dream, Ink/Error, Sans/Sans (Undertale)
Comments: 26
Kudos: 107





	1. Favorite

Error likes to think that he is a pretty reasonable person. He isn’t known for playing favorites. No, not at all. In fact, when asked which brother – between Geno and Fresh – he favored more, he simply would shake his head, clear his throat ever so exaggeratedly and address them both as equally identifiable airheads. And also that he loves them both alike, but he’s never going to admit to that mushy bullshit. He does like Geno’s cooking more, though. He calls Fresh’s cooking ‘an attempt’. An attempt at a failed delicacy.

No, Error does not play favorites, he just has his own personal outlook on certain things. Chocolate is one of those things. Sure, he gets called ridiculous for leaning towards the spicy kind, but he claims that his palate is of higher values and tenderly tells the others that they just wouldn’t understand.

_“You all have stupid rad tongues that were made in China!”_

_“Error, that’s rude! And incredibly prejudiced.” Geno shrieked in response. “I’ll have you know; some China products are actually very convenient!”_

_Fresh merely watched his older brothers, censoring a few swear words Error spat out as he mindlessly threw out Error’s favorite chocolate. Payback for saying his tongue was China made._

Error also claims that solid chocolate is better than liquid chocolate.

_“What about chocolate milk?” Cross’s head tilted, looking over at his friend._

_“That’s still milk. Don’t ever disrespect chocolate like that, you uncultured cow.” Error retorted back, knowing that calling him a cow would undeniably offend Cross for the rest of his life._

Speaking of, his best friend Cross would _likely_ approve that Error is a rational person, despite putting up a rough façade and acting pointlessly tough. He admires his way of expressing his own judgement. The darker skeleton would always be dragged into an unsolvable dispute between two people, and when he does, he glares at the two parties and tells them to ‘man up and apologize to each other, time-wasting assholes,’ then proceed to flip them off.

He considered himself very, very reasonable. Geno choosing to get him pink fuzzy slippers instead of the blue one he so utterly desired? Sure, they’re quite comfy anyway, he wouldn’t complain about it. Fresh telling him that he wants to go play basketball together, despite Error planning to stay in and watch a movie the same afternoon? Sounds lovely, just to make the younger happy and hopefully stop bothering him for the next few days.

Perhaps his apathetic nature is misjudged for being fair-minded. Well, who cares anyway? Certainly not Error.

“Are you listening?”

Error was jerked back to his senses, regrettably to Cross’s hand in his right eye socket for whatever good reason the other had. At the instant he felt the wiggling of phalanges, he smacked the other’s invading bony hand away, glaring at the pale skeleton as he recovered his eye light that disappeared due to the colonizing body part. “The fuck, man? That was my personal space.”

“You weren’t listening.”

“Your roaming hand was in my socket! Who knows what your other fucking hand occupied?”

Where was Error anyway? Oh, right. He was in the halls of his high school. It was unusually empty, thank God. Carefully glancing at the large clock to his left, he noticed it was lunch time. Why the hell was Cross attacking his socket at lunch time?

“The next time you sleep in front of me, I’m going to pour ketchup in your sockets and make you look like you died a bloody death.” Cross snickered at that thought, enlightened to know what Geno and Fresh’s reactions would be. Stupid, sadistic skeleton. Error wasn’t even sleeping, he was daydreaming!

What was he daydreaming about, anyway? He recalled thinking that he was a fair person, always giving chances to others for their own benefit, but why?

“Anyway, you were telling me about a new kid? Something about Math class. I don’t know, guess I wasn’t listening either.” Cross informed him, now fidgeting with his phalanges. Feeling Error’s socket had an effect on him.

Right.

Of course.

Some monster took Error’s _favorite_ seat in Math. And he wasn’t exactly delighted about it. The fresh fucker – no, not Fresh – came earlier in the morning to take over Error’s chair. Okay, maybe he was exaggerating a tiny bit. Error is a fair-minded skeleton.

Technically, there was a ‘first come, first serve’ rule in that room, but everyone had their own claimed placements and have been in the same spot since the start of the semester. There were even extra seats, for goodness sake!

When he entered the room that morning, he grimaced at the sight of the other monster in his chair. He was a skeleton too, apparently. His stature was smaller than Error’s. He took note, just in case he decided to pick a fight with him. Over a seat. It would totally be worth it.

Error was definitely a reasonable person.

He observed the pale skeleton. He rocked a black ink stain on his cheek and had rapidly changing eye lights of annoyingly different hues. What was the most observable however, was his huge ass scarf that could serve as a tablecloth for the next Thanksgiving dinner he’d have with his two brothers. Overall, he looked like he brought trouble. Error didn’t like trouble.

Contemplating on whether he should approach him or not, Error settled for taking a seat behind his original, trying to savor in the benefits he once had. His original seat was perfect. It was directly where the air conditioner had fairly shown its purpose, and the sun rays from the window shone through and still warmed him up. It was a beautiful mixture of chilly tenderness, and he fully relished in it. It also gave him a good view of the scribblings on the board. He had bad eyesight, you see, but you would have known that.

Alas, it didn’t feel the same. The chiller wasn’t really in his favor. He perspired more than usual and kept covering the bright sun beams with his hand from reaching his eye lights. He glared daggers at the back of the other skeleton, whose name he forgot. Pink? Link? Definitely not Kink. Oh, for fuck’s sake, it was one of those two. Link sounded like an obvious answer.

He decided he would let Link off that day. He would just have to come very early for the next Math period and reclaim what was his.

_Oh, come on._

Error heaved a quiet sigh of displeasure as he marched into his Math class, where the subject taught was to be held during the period after lunch this time. Heck, he even skipped lunch for this! Well, it did make sense. The Link guy was new and probably didn’t have anyone to eat with yet, but still…

Error skipped lunch for this!

He’ll let him go for now, _again_. He was a fair person after all. He carefully watched the other skeleton in his original pew. Was he doodling on the table surface? With a permanent marker? Error growled at him inwardly. How dare he mark something that didn’t belong to him nor Error?

Whatever. Error took the chair next to Link’s, believing the said place would have been better than his yesterday’s experience.

Oh, he was so, so wrong.

The sun _didn’t_ even consider him. His frozen ass was glued to his chair, and he was forced into experiencing the very generous air conditioner’s full force. He didn’t even bring his jacket that day, out of all days. He tried to keep his shivering to a minimum, struggling to warm himself up by rubbing both his humerus with his hands repeatedly.

He glanced at the smaller skeleton, who was looking back at him, his eye lights showing a triangle in his left socket, and an inverted question mark in the other. Then, they changed into a blue circle and a yellow star, seemingly his signature look. He then unraveled and took off his brown scarf, passing it to Error with a small grin. Error considered snarling at him and flicking the cloth away, but knowing that he had around fifty minutes left of the class, he took the scarf and nodded at the other, attempting to show a sign of gratitude. He’ll forgive him. For now.

Plus, the Link guy was kind of cute. If he wasn’t in his seat, that is.

“My name’s Ink, by the way! Let’s be friends!”

At the end of the period, Error stared at him as he handed his scarf back over to the other after muttering a small ‘thank you’, before the other excitedly introduce himself.

Oh.

His name’s _Ink_.

Yeah, it makes sense, considering the blotch of ink on his cheek.

Thank _God_ he didn’t outright call him Link. He would’ve suffered a year’s worth of embarrassment if that was the case.

He watched Ink put his scarf back on as he announced himself. “I’m Error, and uh…” He kept watching as Ink struggled with his scarf. “…you’ve been in my seat for two periods now. It’s kind of a bother for me.” He frowned when Ink started making noises; grunts of struggle as he tussled with his cloth. He wasn’t even looking at Error. “Do you... need some help?”

Ink glanced up at him so quickly that he could have snapped his neck. “No, no! I’m good, this is normal.” He adjusted his scarf, sighing a sigh of relief when he finally succeeded fixing it into place. “Just not used to putting it on so quickly, and in front of someone else at that.”

Great, the little bastard totally ignored Error’s statement about his seat.

“Yeah, well, I was saying that-“

“Make sure to bring a coat, just in case. I might get cold too, you know.” Ink grinned at him, oblivious to cutting Error off. He quickly shoved his stationery into his shoulder bag, which he then slung over his shoulder. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Error watched as the smaller left the room. Before doing the same, he went and sat at his original pew, mumbling incoherent words to himself as he indulged in the familiar vibe his initial place has gifted him for the past few months. He then glanced at the doodle he found on the table. It was an image of a pale dog, with the words ‘ _I like big mutts and I cannot lie._ ’ scribbled in the text bubble next to it. Error snorted at the pun as a small smile formed on his face, clearly enjoying the other’s wit.

He was still going to get his seat back, though.


	2. Affection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we get the three brothers' origin, and Cross is helpless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a story where the author overuses the word 'seat'. Enjoy.

Geno, Error and Fresh were brothers, yes, but that doesn’t mean they were necessarily related. At a young age, they were adopted simultaneously by their mother, seeing that in the orphanage, the three stuck to each other like glue, refusing to let even one of them go. Their mother had fallen in love with the sight and demanded to adopt them at that spot, and the three of them had fallen right in love with her as well, finally getting a mother figure they utterly deserved.

Sadly, a few years after, their mother had long passed, and it had again been the three of them together after that. As the oldest, Geno had become their parent figure, endlessly applying for several part-time jobs, all the while balancing high school and taking care of his two younger siblings. He was paid enough to support the three, and Error and Fresh made sure they showed him their full gratitude.

Of course, everything is much easier after Geno got into a higher institution, managing to snatch a scholarship majoring in Pharmacy. His university was quite far from they were, and the train ride from home would take approximately two hours, so he was required to rent a home near his school for easier travelling. He would occasionally send a fraction of his allowance that could help Error and Fresh when needed. Error also got a part-time job at a retail store, gaining extra cash so they could live a life of comfort.

As for Fresh? He enjoyed babysitting the next-door couple’s children. How did it happen? Well, one day, as much as he wanted to keep it, he got pizza delivered to their apartment, when it was intended to be at their neighbor's. He went over with the delivery guy, knocked, and a little kid opened the door, holding a crying infant in his arms and seemingly rubbing his tears as he stared at the two. The child’s parents followed after their son, saw Fresh, and decided they’d hire him if he could calm their children down, revealing that they were late for an important meeting. The rest was history.

Besides, Geno sometimes returned home on some weekends, usually when he wasn’t busy with his projects and lectures. He’d enjoy spending time with his brothers, occasionally scolding them for not cleaning their rooms and spending more on microwaveable dinner instead of producing their own food. (“Why is this sock in the microwave? Did you try heating up a _sock_ pocket?” Geno snickered a bit before going back to this annoyed demeanor. “That’s just a whole new level of messy!”)

As planned, Geno was back at home the week Error found out that Link- _Ink_ , took his precious seat.

The week Ink kept ignoring his requests for his chair back.

“Come on, Error! It’s a Saturday.” Geno grabbed the heavy duvet off of Error, revealing the darker skeleton curled-up on their couch, scrolling through his phone. “This is when you should hang out with your favorite brothers.”

Error scowled at the missing warmth, attempting to snatch the duvet back and bask in its heat. “You guys are my only brothers.” He placed his phone down, using both his hands to grab the blanket this time, ultimately sitting up instead of staying in his initial position. “Besides, Fresh is next door playing with toddlers.” He recalled one of them was named Asriel. The other, well, he forgot. It definitely started with a C. He wasn’t going to assume what the kid’s name was.

“You seem more irritable than usual.” Geno watched Error in interest, suddenly releasing his strong grip on the blanket, watching Error tumble back into the couch due to the missing force since Geno had his hands off the comforter. Geno ignored the middle finger and curses directed at him. “What’s wrong?” The older sat next to him, teasingly patting his lap, reminding Error of what Santa Clauses in malls would do to children when Christmas was near.

“You’re a fucking creep sometimes.” Error muttered loud enough for the other to hear, who only chuckled at his comment. He wrapped the comforter around himself, curling up again. He had remembered a certain someone struggling with his scarf when he’d done this.

It wasn’t his fault he had that image stuck in his head! Ink looked cute when he was trying like that, so entirely concentrated on fixing the piece of clothing to the point that he ignored Error fully. The event happened again the day before Geno returned home.

_Math was his last period for Friday before he had to rush home to get ready for work. He had IT before Math and the building he was in was decently far from the other block where his next period was held. He contemplated running to the class, really not wanting to sit in Antarctica or even the Sahara Desert. The last two periods have proven to him that he needed to put in more effort to reclaim his pew back. So, that was what he did. He ran with little amount of energy he had left._

_Aaand... Ink was already there. Great, Error was sweating now._

_He ignored the weird looks and murmurs his few classmates gave him as he went over to the North Pole seat next to Ink’s (initially Error’s, that is), wanting to relish in the cold just so he could stop dripping sweat. He tried hard not to glare at the smaller skeleton who seemed very, very not bothered by him- Huh. Did Ink look different today?_

_Taking a cautious look, he noticed that the scarf so dear to Ink wasn’t around his neck, but in the other’s hands instead. Ink was staring at him, his blue eye lights shaking, as if he was unsure of what he was doing. Oh, wait, were his arms stretched out towards the other skeleton?_

_Oh._ Oh _._

_He was trying to lend Error his scarf again._

_Error tried to stop himself from blushing as he gently shook his head and took out the navy-blue jacket he had greatly shoved in his bag that very morning. He showed it to Ink, telling him that he’ll be fine._

_In return, Ink showed him a small smile and a nod of understanding, before proceeding to tussle with his scarf once more. It wasn’t that loud, but Error could still hear the quiet noises of struggle he made, along with Ink’s nose scrunching up so endearingly-_

_Error never talked to Ink about his chair that day._

Now Error felt like the creep. He didn’t even know Ink that well. Heck, he shouldn’t even be calling him cute. He should be planning his revenge and telling Ink to know his place. He wasn’t going to let _anyone_ , no matter how adorable, take _his_ seat. He was going to put his foot down the next time he sees Ink.

Geno stared at his younger brother, stunned when he saw a blush of cyan spread across his face. A taunting grin showed on his face as he started poking Error’s clothed rib cage with his elbow. “What’s this? Someone caught your attention? Why didn’t you tell us?”

The blue hue darkened as Error grabbed a nearby pillow, smacking Geno with it twice. “Not that, idiot. The person I’m thinking about annoys me.” Error huffed, hitting Geno two more times before the other snatched it away, defending himself with it. “He keeps sitting in my place in Math. It’s actually frustrating.”

Geno didn’t point out how Error didn’t deny that someone had gained his attention.

“Not to be rude, but that’s a little childish.” It was Geno’s turn to smack Error with the pillow.

“No, it’s not.” Error scowled at his brother _. If you hit me again, I swear-_

“You’re such a manbaby.” _Smack_.

“Shut up.” Error attempted to grab the pillow, failing as Geno shooed his hands away. “Now you’re being childish-“

 _Smack_.

“Stop that!”

_On that same Friday, Cross had walked Error to his place of work, gushing about his taste in music as usual, occasionally telling Error he had a taste of an eighty-year-old. (“At least an eighty-year-old’s taste is elegant. There’s nothing wrong with classical music.”)_

_Error didn’t blame Cross for always talking about music. The guy was in Music Society after all, the school’s club that was focused entirely on, well, music. Error didn’t know what was going on in the club, but he did know that they always recommended different songs to the Broadcasting Club, the group Error was in, to be played every morning before homeroom session started._

_After changing into his uniform (Error didn’t bother going home to change, he just went to the store and used their less maintained comfort room) he went straight to doing inventory. He tried to do it efficiently, but Cross’s presence wasn’t exactly in his favor._

_“If you’re not buying anything, get out.” Error glanced at him after losing count of how many packaged cinnamon buns there were. “I’m busy and I want to do this quickly so I can rest.” Luckily there weren’t many customers yet. He could yell at Cross if he wanted._

_“But I want to be around you.”_ Bullshit _. Error thought. Cross had a different reason for staying._

_Error grabbed the nearest chocolate milk and tossed it to his friend, who had caught it effortlessly, “Buy it before I get fired for entertaining your bored ass.”_

_Cross only beamed so brightly at him, taking his wallet out and waving it at Error. “No one’s at the register-“_

_“Sorry I’m late- Oh, hey Cross!” A sincere voice yelled out as the bells to the entrance jingled, sounding tired but still radiating positivity._

_Oh, there was another reason Cross kept talking about Music Society._

_At the entrance stood the school’s golden boy, a smile on his face so bright that it could put the sun to shame. Dream had the same shift as Error every Friday afternoon, and was in the same club as Cross. He considered both of them good friends and liked hanging out with them, even when he wasn’t as close to them like how close Error was with Cross._

_The thing was, you see, Cross didn’t see Dream as a friend, Error knew that. Ever since his eyes landed on Dream, he had actively participated in music discussions and compositions, as well as stuck to Error every Friday afternoon, hoping at least to spend more time with his crush._

_Oh, he never spent alone time with Dream. But he hoped to change that._

_Cross’s hold tightened around the carton of milk. showing the small skeleton a nervous smile. He scratched his skull with his free hand, praying to God he wouldn’t stumble on his words._

_“Hey, Dream.”_

_He mentally stabbed himself when his voice cracked, his face, oblivious to Dream, glowing purple out of embarrassment. He looked away, not noticing Dream's face flushing his own golden yellow._

Cross, you idiot _. Error rolled his eyes, stopping what he was doing (he lost count, again) to greet Dream with a nod. “Can you handle his payment?”_

_“Alright! Just let me sign in first.” Dream said as he entered the staff room, leaving the both of them alone again._

_Error looked at Cross with his neutral face of displeasure, slightly judging his best friend who was still purple in the face. “Really?”_

_Cross ignored him, placing his precious chocolate milk on the counter as he waited for Dream, tapping his fingers on the surface as he pondered on what to say to his crush if he came back._

_Helpless. Error thought. His best friend was completely helpless._

_And very oblivious to Dream’s own feelings._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I initially wanted to make the trio of brothers as triplets, but then realized that didn't completely make sense with the background I had set up for them heh :P  
> Quite overused, but I still love the idea of Geno being the oldest and spoiling his lil bros.  
> The next chapter should be in Ink's perspective, look forward to it hehe


	3. Ink's Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ink goes through his day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Or alternatively, Ink wants his clock while Error wants his chair.
> 
> These are still the introductory chapters, so I haven't written much about interactions between our bois, but at least you'll get to know more about them :3
> 
> Also the author sucks at summaries. Enjoy reading!

The start to Ink’s morning wasn’t what he really expected.

“Ink, wake the hell up! Your alarm is too damn loud!”

Groaning exaggeratedly, Ink sat up when he heard his alarm clock blaring (with a sound that could crack a skull open) and to someone’s scolding. Scrunching his nose at their voice, he wasn’t sure who it was yet, but it sounded like it was getting nearer and damn, they were _mad_.

_Where am I? It’s so dark.._

Oh, his eye sockets weren’t open yet. He laughed dryly to himself, finally opening his eyes to what he saw was a whirlwind of a mess in his bedroom. _What happened last night?_ Ink thought, instantly rolling off his bed and landing on the floor with a loud thud. It wasn’t even considered floor, he was resting on several bits and pieces of paper and art materials. He should probably apologise to the owners of the house for making such a disaster, but he didn’t want to. He wasn’t that sorry for putting his creativity to good use.

Anyway, he was living in the Fell brothers’ residence now. He felt appreciative towards them when they took him in after... well, that was a story for another day. What matters now is that Ink woke up too early for school and he felt the need to shoot someone.

He contemplated going back to sleep (paper was kinda comfy), until the door to his bedroom swung open, revealing an angry skeleton, still dressed in his pyjamas, who was ready to lunge at Ink.

Right, he didn’t turn off his alarm yet.

“What the hell, Ink?” Red glared at him, summoning a bone attack and striking the infuriating sound-emitting device all while his eyes remained trained on Ink. “I told you to change your damn alarm clock! Even the next neighborhood could listen to that shit!”

As Ink listened to the dying sound of his now lifeless alarm clock, he pouted as he raised his head to look at Red. “Felicia was my favorite…”

“You name your stupid clocks?!”

“Anyway, good morning to you too, Red!” Ink beamed, both his eye lights changing to yellow stars. He then patted the space next to him. “Wanna join me? There’s a lot of paper, but it’s not that tear-able.”

Red clenched his fists, wanting to punch the stupid grin off of Ink’s face. Scowling, he watched as Ink shook with laughter on the floor at his wordplay (and at how angry Red was), sockets closed and fresh tears rolling down his cheeks. Red rolled his eyes when Ink stopped to yell about getting a paper cut on his elbow but continued laughing after that anyway, his body shaking even more now in delight _and_ pain.

 _I did not sign up for this shit, especially this early in the morning._ “Why the hell is your room this… messy? You’ve only been here for a few weeks!” Wrong, he had been living with them for a few months.

“Creativity does not come clean.” With his laughter dying down, the other finally decided to get up, glancing at his newly formed wound as he wiped his tears away. Thankfully, there was no kind of liquid leaking out of it. “Hey, this would make a neat scar, won’t it?”

Straining his grin at him, Red nodded a bit forcibly. He wondered how he was going to deal with this idiot for the rest of his life. “Yeah, sure. And since we’re both awake early because of your stupid clock, _again_ …” He frowned and Ink pretended not to notice, still smiling innocently at him. “…go get ready. You can go to school early, so I don’t need to deal with your antics any longer than I have to.” He continued, watching Ink nod in understanding. At least Ink listened to him when he’s supposed to.

“You owe me another clock, by the way.”

“Shut the hell up.”

_It’s Monday. Day three of my new high school. Red destroyed my clock, so I’m going to destroy his spine when I get home_.

Ink scribbled in his notebook, smiling to himself as he walked to his homeroom class. Okay, maybe he should not have felt happy about what he wrote, but in his defence, the clock was a gift from someone so dear to him – they even said it matched his personality. Whatever that means. He still treasured it and kept it close to him anyway. Before it was broken, that is.

He flipped through his book, looking through the previous entries he had written. He came across the entry he wrote on Friday, the day he tried to lend his scarf to the guy sitting next to him. In short, he didn’t know why he was lending it. The guy was obviously sweating. Giving a scarf would just make it worse! But the darker skeleton kept looking at him… Maybe he really did want the scarf? No, no, he had his jacket.

 _What was his name?_ Ink frowned, tapping his pencil on his cheekbone as he thought hard. _I never asked for his name._ He did recall the other skeleton mentioning it though, but since Ink had an attention span of a goldfish, he didn’t quite catch it.

Closing his notebook in frustration, he shoved it in his bag pocket as he entered homeroom.

It was… empty, signifying that it was way too early to be on school grounds. Trudging into the room, Ink sat down by the window farthest from the door. He dropped his bag and rested his head on the table, closing his sockets as he slowly dozed off. _Guess I’ll just sleep meanwhile_.

“Ink? Ink, wake up.”

“Go away, Red. I’ll promise I’ll throw the clock away…” Ink retorted, voice still low as he recovered from his sleep.

“W-What? What are you talking about? Who’s Red?”

With that, Ink opened his eyes and was greeted with golden eye lights staring down at him with worry. “You’re not Red.”

Dream scrunched his nose at the other. “Of course not. How long were you asleep?”

Ink sat up, wiping the wet pool of drool on the table surface away with his sleeve. He took a look around the classroom before his eyes landed on Dream again, who grimaced when Ink touched the saliva on the table. There were many people in homeroom now. “I donno.”

“I take it that you came early again?” Dream asked, handing a tissue to Ink so he could wipe his saliva covered cheeks. Ink, however, just grabbed it and didn’t know what to do with it, so he shoved it in his shirt pocket.

“Yeah, I need to get a new alarm clock.”

Okay, that did _not_ answer Dream’s question. Who even uses alarm clocks nowadays? They had phones, for goodness sake.

But Dream didn’t mind. Despite knowing Ink for a few days, his personality was… unique, in a way. From the day Ink had first step foot in his registration, he was the first to offer a seat to him, the first one to know his name. Well, apart from the school administration officers. He enjoyed his company even if he wanted to strangle him at times, but truth be told, he was looking forward to this newly formed friendship.

He watched as Ink started closing his eyes again, his skull almost crashing into the table before he jerked back awake due to bending forward a little too much. Dream sighed. He could tell Ink was the type of monster who would easily get into trouble. _This is going to be an interesting semester._

Ink didn’t know why he took Math. He took Art and History of Art, and ironically, Math didn’t fit into the equation. Heck, he was actually bad at it! So why did he choose to take it?

Now sitting in Math class, he sported a headache, grumbling to himself as he stared at his unfinished assignment. He forgot it was due that day. It was a few minutes before class started, maybe he could ask for someone else’s work and copy it off? It would have taken less than two minutes to do it. But that’s cheating, and he wanted to avoid that. He thought of a few excuses for not finishing it.

 _My dog ate it_. He doesn’t have a dog.

 _I peed on it._ That’s… gross.

 _I don’t have any writing materials_. Okay, for someone who’s an artist, that was just a straight up lie.

He settled for the classic ‘I forgot it back at home’ and put the piece of paper away, wanting to rest his mind before the period started, until he felt a familiar presence next to him.

Glancing to his side, his eyes landed on the darker skeleton, who was towering over him with a seemingly determined look on his face. It looked like he wanted to say something, but he stayed silent, his eye lights darting from Ink to the chair he was sitting on. _What’s up with this guy?_

They stared each other down for what felt like minutes. The other opened his mouth, only to close it back again when he saw Ink shifting. Confusion struck Ink as the darker skeleton started looking angry with himself. His peripheral view caught the taller clenching and unclenching his fist.

“Can I help you?” Ink was the first to break the silence, voice quiet as he watched the other warily. Oh, wait, he wanted to ask for his name!

“Well, you’re in my-“

“What was your name again?” Ink asked a bit too joyfully, catching the other off guard. He didn’t even notice the other started talking, and unsurprisingly, he was oblivious to cutting the other off. The darker just stared at him with a look full of disbelief, causing Ink to laugh sheepishly. “Sorry, I… I didn’t catch it the first time you said it. So, what’s your name?”

“It’s uh… Error. Name’s Error.”

“Error…” Ink took out his notebook and started writing his name down in a page separate from his entries. “What did you need, Error?” He put his book away, smiling up at the skeleton who was still staring down at him at a loss for words.

“…Ink.” The other began.

“Ink? You need me?”

“What the- No!” Error’s face dusted blue as Ink said that. The _audacity_ of that guy. Ink wasn’t going to tell him that he liked the color on his face though. “I just want my chair-“

“It’s over there…” Ink cut him off as he pointed to the seat that Error has been sitting in for the past two periods. “Chairs do have legs, but they don’t really move much.”

“…” Error’s face darkened. “Listen here, you little shit-“

“Take your seats, class.” Error growled as their lecturer trudged in, not knowing that she saved Ink from the taller’s anger. Ink watched as Error took a seat next to him, grumbling to himself as he put on a coat. “Hand in your assignments. We’ll be doing calculus today.”

Ink didn’t know why Error sounded so angry. Guess his joke didn’t appeal to him. Whatever, all he had to worry about now was his two brain cells absorbing new information.

* * *

“Ink, where’s your assignment?”

 _You forgot it at home, you forgot it at home, you forgot it at home_.

Panicking, Ink blurted out. “I accidentally peed on it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Truth be told, this story was actually inspired by mutatedbunnies's 'The Two Cockroaches'. If you haven't read it yet, then what are you doing? Go read it hmph
> 
> More info  
> \- Red and Edge aren't biologically related to Ink, but they are pretty close.  
> \- Dream and Ink share the same homeroom  
> \- I decided to not let Ink be a forgetful person every 3 seconds, only as someone who doesn't pay enough attention. I still kept his constant note-taking on his scarf though. Of course, I replaced his scarf with the notebook he carries with himself all the time. Didn't wanna change him too much.
> 
> All characters belong to their respective owners.


	4. Ambitions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Error doesn't want to get close to Ink, but Ink has different plans. Meanwhile, Cross is still a ball of softness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter happened right after Ink said he peed. (Could've phrased it better but I stuck to this ridiculousness instead)

“It’s only been a few days, and you aren’t doing too good in this class.” Ink knew that. “Tell me, Ink. What made you choose Math anyway? History could have been a better alternative?”

“History has too much memorizing…” Ink pouted at the sheer thought of the subject itself. He did not want to go through textbooks and notes just to memorize content that he will just forget the next minute. All the other subject choices seemed that way too. Truthfully, he didn’t mind committing subjects to memory, but it just took most of his precious time away from what he loved most: Art. He was never going to sacrifice that.

“Math looks easy enough, it just needs logic and practice.” He said, knowing that he will probably never practice.

“You know nothing comes easy in high school, Ink.” Ink knew that.

“By the way, you do know that you need to pass this class to advance, right?” Of course, Ink also knew that.

His teacher sighed, tapping her long, dainty fingers on the desk. “More effort, Ink. You need to put in more effort. Starting with your assignment. I know you didn’t do it, much less pee on it. How does that work with skeletons like you?”

Ink laughed quietly, shaking his head at her. “We don’t really need to do that…”

He heard a small chuckle come out from her as well, signifying that she wasn’t as mad as he thought. “If you need any help, just ask. You have me and your classmates, and the whole semester to get to know them better.” She continued as she stood up and towered over him. She was definitely taller than Ink. The skeleton only scowled at that thought, but brushed it away.

“I’ll try!” Ink tried to sound enthusiastic about the subject he sure wasn’t enthusiastic about.

“Perhaps I should let you go for lunch, I need my break as well.” She showed him a grin, and Ink was unsure if it was sincere, the ends of her mouth kept twitching as if she wanted to stop the kind gesture. But judging from how she treated him, he hoped it was. He was starting to like her.

Ink pouted as he watched his lecturer leave the empty classroom after muttering a small ‘thank you’, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

It wasn’t his fault he wasn’t good at Math. He was never born to be good at it. Math was a subject that required a lot of critical thinking and data analyzing and- well, he hated doing any of those. He missed those days when Math was only addition and subtraction, then algebra and calculus came rolling in and he just wanted to sleep it off from then onward. Who’s idea was it to start putting alphabets in Math anyway?

He pondered about taking after school tuition classes, but he didn’t have the financial stability for that. He couldn’t ask the Fell brothers for money, they have done plenty to help him already. Ink groaned, he was definitely going to fail this class.

“Hey.” A voice he knew broke his train of thought.

“Oh, Dream.” Ink tried to hide his look of concern from his friend. “What are you doing here?”

“I was on my way to the canteen and I saw you.” The other skeleton entered the classroom and approached Ink, showing him a soft smile, as if relating to what the other was going through. “I figured we could have lunch together. Wanna come with?”

* * *

Elbow on the table and supporting his chin with his hand, Error stabbed the cooked chicken with his fork, muttering threats to himself. How dare Ink… just how dare he? Error remembered the face he was making when he made the joke about his chair, smiling so innocently and face overall showing how happy he was stating that comment. Oh heavens, he just wanted his chair back. And that little shit was making it hard for him.

He took back his statements about Ink being cute and all with his stupidly warm scarf. Hell, Ink was Satan himself.

Cross just watched as Error treated his meal poorly, the blue shade intensifying on his friend’s skull. Just like Geno, Cross admitted that Error’s feud with Ink was a bit childish, and Error started ignoring his friend’s remarks about it from then. Every time he brought it up, the darker just glared at him and stayed silent, his gaze on Cross lasting long enough to make anyone uncomfortable. He sighed, realizing that if Error kept acting like this, he might talk to Ink himself and hopefully, slap Error back into sanity.

Speaking of, Cross never actually saw Ink. People in his circle never really talked about him, so he didn’t have a clue on how he looked like. Dream seemed to know him, but Cross never talked about him with Dream. He never talked to Dream at all. And in Error’s perspective, the idiot only talked about his stupid chair. He wasn’t going to get to know more about Ink that way. So, yes, Cross had no clue who Ink was.

That was why when Ink and Dream entered the canteen area together, he was confused why Error kept badmouthing Dream so much.

“Look at that idiot and tell me he doesn’t look bothersome.” Error was talking about Ink.

“He… doesn’t?” Cross’s eyes were on Dream.

“He does! And his choice of clothing is questionable.” Error went back to his now shredded chicken and continued stabbing at it. He didn’t want to keep looking at Ink.

Cross meanwhile scanned Dream from head to toe. He looked clean to Cross. His white shirt was neatly tucked into his long beige jeans that accentuated his legs. On top of his shirt was a fitted dark orange blazer that complemented his yellow cheeks, almost showing off his perfect skeletal body. He looked good. Really good.

“He looks good…” He said his thoughts aloud, forgetting that his best friend was right in front of him, now choking on the food he just swallowed.

Taking a swig of water to down the food, Error blurted out. “Don’t tell me you have eyes on Ink too?”

Cross blinked. Once. Twice. “What?” He finally noticed the skeleton next to a laughing Dream, ogling at the display of food by the counter. “That’s him?” It looked like Ink kept making comments about the delicacies, because Dream couldn’t stop snickering. Cross frowned, wondering how someone who just moved in was closer to Dream than he was, and could even make him laugh like that.

Cross only managed to get a short chuckle out of Dream once, and a few smiles to show that he acknowledged him. But that was about it. He felt bitter when he recalled those moments as he watched Dream enjoy the other’s company.

“Yeah. And he’s an idiot.” Error places his cutlery down. “Who were you talking about?”

“No one.” Cross was quick to answer.

Completely brushing off Cross because of how exasperated he is, Error stated. “I think he’s irritating me on purpose. He knows how I feel.”

“No offense, Error, but no one gives a damn about your problem.”

“I do!”

“Maybe you should talk to him about it?”

“You think I haven’t tried?”

“I thought you hated talking to me about this.” Cross frowned, pushing his tray away from himself to show that he was done eating. “Just join your tables together, or something. That’s a pretty good origin story for your kids one day.”

“ _What?_ ”

“You talk about this guy a lot ever since you’ve met him. If you weren’t so angry, people might think you’re developing feelings for him.” Cross showed the other a smirk before continuing. “You called him cute once, even.”

“Cut the bullshit, Cross. Only one out of two people are gay. Between us, we know which one is which.”

“Yeah, well, I’m bi. That means you’re the gay ass here.” Cross snickered, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Sorry, genius. Your statement didn’t really contradict with what I just said.” Cross wondered how the other even get the fact he just spurted out.

“I do _not_ like Ink.”

“I never said you did. I only gave you a possibility of what people might think.” Wanting to tease his friend a bit more, Cross continued. “You didn’t deny your sexuality. Coming out, Error?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Error was tired of conversing with Cross. The other knew how to push his buttons, and he wondered why they were still friends to this day.

Thankfully, Cross stopped. They both sat in silence, the only sound was of Error’s chewing, his spoon against the plastic plate as well as the chatter of other students around them. Ink and Dream sat quite far from where they were, so Error didn’t have to look up and suddenly have his eyes on Ink, which he was grateful for. Even so, Error did think about Cross’s suggestion on joining their tables together in class, but he didn’t want to be in close proximity with Ink, so he was definitely not going to do that. He should avoid him at all costs.

* * *

Ink stared into what he thought was nothingness (at another monster, actually, and they look confused as to what Ink was thinking of them), still pondering on what to do on the subject he was already failing. That resulted in him not really eating his food, only poking at a jelly donut with his finger. A scowl that looked more like a pout was apparent on his face.

The monster accompanying him took notice of that. “What’s wrong, pal?”

“Huh? Oh, nothing. I’m just going to fail high school, that’s all.” Ink replied, eyes blinking and showing different eye lights as his focus transitioned to Dream, his eye lights a blue teardrop and a green spiral. Dream didn’t try to encode what that meant.

Before Dream could reply, another skeleton next to him snorted in indifference, shaking his head at Ink’s blatant statement. He looked exactly like Dream, but replace Dream’s yellow eye lights with purple colored ones and his clothes with darker hues. He was so quiet that Ink forgot he was there, flipping through a textbook. Ink noticed he was already done with his meal.

“It’s still early in the semester, you’re not going to fail.” Nightmare leaned back on his chair, staring down at Ink. “Stop being a whiny little-“

“Nightmare! Be nice.” Dream scolded at his twin. He didn’t want him to reveal his colorful vocabulary. Nightmare only shrugged and continued reading his spread out notes since he had a test later, completely ignoring the other two in the process.

Ink kept thinking, both his eye lights mostly stuck on question marks.

“If you’re so worried Ink, Nightmare could help you. He’s smart and good at everything.” Dream suggested.

“I’m not good at tolerating people.” Apparently, Nightmare gave up on his notes and whacked Dream on the head with them.

“Hey- That was totally unnecessary.” Dream rubbed his skull, glaring daggers at his twin who only feigned innocence.

Ink should get someone to tutor him… Yes, that seems right.

“What does Ink need help with anyway?” Nightmare’s eyes kept glancing between said skeleton and Dream.

Ink thought his teacher may want to help him, but he didn’t want to be a burden to her. He thought a classmate would be better. Someone from the same age group.

“Math, he’s bad at it.” Thankfully, Ink didn’t really focus on their conversation. He would’ve joined Nightmare in smacking Dream for exposing his weakness.

But who, in his class, would help Ink? They’re not very close to him.

Nightmare stared at Ink in disbelief, brow raising. “If he sucks at it, why take it?”

Ink blinked in realization. There was one skeleton in his class that agreed to befriend him, and this could be an excuse to get to know him better. He’d get a new companion _and_ pass Math! Ink smiled in glee at that thought. There was hope for him after all.

Ignoring the squabbling twins and the school bell ringing, he had a new goal in mind.

He was going to ask Error to tutor him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, Nightmare's here!
> 
> I tried so hard not to turn this into a Cream fanfic, it's so tempting! But I love Errink too and asdfghjkl  
> I might write a spin-off that focuses on Cream in the future but! No promises :3
> 
> The school system I've planned for this story might be different to yours so I may update on that soon, if I want to.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	5. Deal?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Error and Ink talk to each other, but they don't talk to each other. Ink's backstory is revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for this chapter! Mentions of minor character deaths and murder.  
> Also I am so sorry, I did not expect to write out the chapter like this. Enjoy reading!

_“Do you know what club Error is in?” Ink asked, taking out his notebook to record it down, in case he forgot. Dream stared at him in question. Why did he suddenly bring up Error?_

_“Broadcasting.” Nightmare answered, not caring why the other skeleton asked about Error. “Only a lunatic would join that club. They work every day, early in the morning.”_

_“So does that mean Error always comes early?” Ink scribbled down a few notes, tongue sticking out as a force of habit._

_“Why are you asking?”_

_“I want his help.”_

_“You’re going to the broadcasting studio to ask him.” Nightmare stated indifferently._

_"Yes.”_

_"Early in the morning.”_

_“Yep!” Ink gleefully replied._

_“Maybe you could ask him during his free time, like a_ normal _person would do?” Dream carefully suggested, knowing how Error was like in the early cracks of dawn. He definitely did not want to witness that sight again, much less let Ink see it. People get really cranky in the mornings, you know?_

_As if realizing what his twin was thinking, Nightmare grinned. “I’d like to see him try, actually.”_

* * *

So there Ink was, standing outside the studio and having a staring contest with the door (of course, the door won). He moved to the window, squinting through the tinted glass. There was no source of light from the inside and it seemed like no one had arrived yet. Further proving his assumptions, no songs were echoing through the school halls, so the studio was definitely empty. Maybe he could wait inside?

He twisted the doorknob. _Locked_. Welp, there was nothing else he could do except wait.

Did Ink regret waking up so early? Yes, absolutely.

But was he going to give up? Also yes.

He was going to catch up with his sleep. Screw waiting.

As he was retreating from the room, he heard the jingle of keys from behind him. Turning around with glee, he was ready to attack the other with his query. However, his excitement died down when he noticed that the holder of the keys wasn’t Error, but a human.

Okay, it’s not that Ink was uncomfortable with humans. These beings were pretty normal to see walking around in the city and lived peacefully with monsters. They were quite abundant within the school as well, and Ink was fine with that. But back in his old neighbourhood?

The humans there _despised_ monsters, shunning them away into their houses and leaving them in fear. They see a monster by the street? Rob them clean, assault them maybe. Oh, a monster child? Let’s do the worst to them, leave them traumatized!

The monsters would have rather dusted than faced the humans in their population. They were the main reason for the disappearance of Ink’s parents, after all. His parents had been _murdered_ by two in their room, in their own home. They had died protecting him. Fortunately, the killers had not spotted him as he was hiding in the shadows of the room’s attic, but there were a few small gaps between the wooden planks that made up the flooring and gave Ink the full show of his own parents’ deaths.

He didn’t know why they killed them. Was… was it all for fun? He witnessed how the humans kept slashing their blades, scratching and breaking their already lifeless bodies. To add insult to injury, one even took out their gun, happily wasting away its bullets. It took a sheer amount of determination for Ink to not vomit right there and expose his location. After watching the two humans leave contentedly, he immediately ran to his motionless parents, breath hitching and eyes damp with tears.

_Why… why them?_

_Why did_ they _have to meet their fate that night?_

Upon receiving a call from a distraught Ink, voice trembling and wet hiccups interrupting him along the way as he tried to explain what had happened, Edge had immediately ran to his car while Red attempted to calm him down through the phone line. The Fell brothers had always treated Ink like their own close sibling; they were close friends with his parents after all, so it came to a surprise when the usual cheerful skeleton who always entertained them had sounded so broken and afraid through the call.

When midnight came and when no human was in sight, Ink fled from the neighborhood with Edge, never looking back again. He had left his childhood, his few joyful memories he cherished with his now deceased parents and the place where he had felt hurt the most. But the most painful part? Knowing that the humans, who had taken over the area, would have brushed off the murder of two monsters and filed it as an assault. It meant they would not further investigate the cause of their deaths because, well, the victims were only monsters.

Ink had felt bitter realizing that no one was going to bring justice to his parents.

_‘I don’t want to feel anymore.’ Ink thought, covering his mouth with his wet hands to prevent a sound of a sob from escaping. He knew his housemates would do anything to help him but- he… he didn’t want to worry Red and Edge so late at night. Clutching on where his soul was situated, his sight became blurry as his pillow started getting wet with more tears. ‘It hurts, it hurts so much.’_

From then on, he had tried to live his life normally in his new residence, but almost every night, he had succumbed to his feelings of worry and misery from not having fully moved on yet. It was a recent event, no one in their right mind would have forgotten it so quickly, much less for someone who had their tragedy etched into their memories forever.

“Hey. Frisk, right?” Ink tried to push the recollection away, approaching the human named Frisk and attempting a wide smile. The other was in the same homeroom class with him and Dream. “You’re early.”

“Good morning, Ink.” Frisk gave him a nod of acknowledgment, pushing the keys into the lock and opening the door to the room Ink so badly wanted to enter. “What are you doing here? Got a song to recommend?”

Ink’s eye lights had turned to stars. “You’re in this club too?”

“I have the keys, idiot. Of course I am!” Frisk laughed, amused at how Ink looked. “So?”

“I was just waiting for Error.” Ink crossed his arms, trying to look mad while tapping his non-existent watch on his wrist. “I thought he would come early, out of all people.”

With both giggling at Ink’s antics, Frisk entered the studio and Ink trailed after the other. He took a good look around and relished in how clean the room was. _Too clean_. Ink squinted. He would have gone crazy if he had joined this club, as he needed a bit (a lot, actually) of mess to think clearly.

“Sorry, buddy. Error never comes here anymore.” Ink’s train of thought had been interrupted. _Excuse me?_

Frisk continued, as if notified of Ink’s distress. “He mainly handles the school’s website now. We stopped him from coming here after, uh… an incident.”

Ink wanted to ask about this incident, but the look on Frisk’s face told him that their short conversation was done.

Ink pouted, realizing he definitely got nothing out of waking up and coming to school so early. _I can’t believe Nightmare talked me into this._

* * *

Error was… actually early for Math?

The dark skeleton frowned at his original seat, which was empty. Ink’s bag wasn’t there either, so it meant the other had not arrived yet.

This was it! This was the day Error gained back his chair and his glory! But he should probably talk to Ink first, right? Error pondered, the poor guy might be confused as to why his seat was taken…

But Error was in this mess for the same exact reason! That was _his_ seat, for heaven’s sake. And he’s going to reclaim it.

However, he still hesitated. Clutching on the jacket he’s been wearing for god knows how long, he looked between Heaven and Antarctica, his urge to talk to Ink first stronger than that of his urge to steal back his pew. He.. he was a rational person, right? Yes. Yes, he was.

 _The hell is wrong with me?_ Sighing, he trudged to Antarctica, slipping on his jacket as he took a seat on the chair he really didn’t want to be on. When Ink would come in, he would reason with him. Hopefully, it’d be quick since there was approximately ten minutes left until the lesson would start. He’d just have to wait for the other to come.

In the meantime, he flipped through his folder that had been filled with scrap paper and assignments. He had completed the task due that day and was double-checking for any errors (heh). Upon finding none, he stored them safely in his bag and glanced at his wristwatch.

_Okay, eight minutes left. Still enough time._

He took in his surroundings. Some of his classmates were fooling around, some on their phones and some… catching up on their sleep. A few were doing their assignments at the very last minute, occasionally checking the door in case their teacher had walked in. It was kind of funny when they got terrified as another fellow student entered with the door opening so suddenly and so loudly. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Ink.

Error glanced at his watch again. _Five minutes left._ Time sure did pass quickly.

To wait it out, he took out his phone and scrolled through Undernet, the social media site everyone was using. He chuckled at a few memes that he just scrolled past and cringed at a few _. Those are shit memes._ He checked his phone clock. _Four minutes left_. He was about to put his phone away when a post Geno had posted had caught his eye. It was a picture of his brother and another skeleton.

In the photo, they were both holding a cup of coffee each. The picture had no caption- Well, because Geno didn’t have enough creativity to think of one. Assuming the other skeleton was a male, the dude wore all black- yes, from head to toe. He sported a black hoodie and black denim pants, and since it wasn’t in view, Error believed his shoes were the same shade of black. He thought it was impossible to have black clothes of the same darkness, but Geno’s friend proved him wrong. Speaking of, when his brother gushed about his experiences and friends in college life, Geno never brought up this guy. Huh. New friend, maybe.

The clicking of heels had made Error shove his phone into his pocket, looking up to see their teacher entering the classroom. He glanced at Ink’s seat, frowning when he had not arrived yet. Did he get lost or something? That’s impossible, he was always earlier than Error. _Three minutes left._ His teacher was already preparing herself for the class, getting out her lesson plan and textbooks. If she were to sit down (which she hadn’t, yet), it meant she’d start taking their attendance.

Error glanced at the seat next to him again. The urge to take it back was so strong and Ink was still nowhere in sight. He grimaced as thoughts clouded his mind. Should he, or should he not? Why did he want to give Ink a chance? Why couldn’t he just take his seat back- Oh.

Oh god, his teacher was already in her chair. Oh no, she’s calling out names now.

 _Ink, where the hell are you?_ He listened to a list of names being called out as his phalanges tapped away on the table anxiously, speaking only when his own name was called out.

“Error?”

“Here.” Impatiently, he also tapped his foot on the surface of the floor. It was loud enough for his fellow annoyed classmates in his neighbouring seats to glare at him- a silent plea for him to stop. He brushed them off as he kept glancing at the door, waiting for his mortal enemy to come crashing in. And he did.

With the last name being called out, a loud response came along with it.

“Ink?”

“Here! I’m here.” Ink, who was standing at the entrance – panting and sweating and attracting everyone else’s attention – only gave them a sheepish smile and plodded to his place of sitting.

Error’s gaze followed him as the other sat down, wiping his sweat with his scarf- of which Error grimaced at. The guy was messy. Ugh.

Well, he definitely did not have time to talk to Ink.

* * *

A ball of crumpled paper was pelted at Ink’s head when their teacher wasn’t looking. He almost yelped, but remembered that class was still in session and he did _not_ want to attract attention to himself again. He glanced around the room until his eyes landed on Error, who was looking back at him and discreetly pointing to the ball of paper which had settled on the floor.

Confused, Ink took it in his hands and started unraveling the paper, and damn, he was surprised to see Error’s handwriting so neat and tidy. Every letter had the same consistency which filled Ink with envy. Don’t get him wrong, Error looked like the person who… well, he looked the untidy type. He glanced back at the other who was in his usual get-up. The other had a plain fashion sense; denim pants that were folded at the ends and a simple red t-shirt that complemented his jacket. _Simple, but nice_. Ink concluded.

Even adorning the same jacket he had worn the past few days, he still smelt nice. Maybe he washed it every day. Looking back at the owner of the clothing, he noticed how Error’s neutral face has turned into a scowl. Oh shit.

 _Oh my god was I staring?_ Ink immediately turned his head back to the paper, a light rainbow blush finding its way to his face. Just looking at the paper itself reminded him that he had yet to read what the other had written down for him.

_‘The hell where you that made you so late?'_

Ink blinked. He knew why he was late, but was he going to let anyone know? Definitely not.

‘ _Entered the wrong class_.’ He wrote down, adding an illustration of a sad face after his words before passing it back to Error.

The game of passing notes went on after that, both not wanting to let their teacher find out about it.

‘ _That’s dumb. But I understand._ ’

‘ _Were you worried about me? :)_ ’

‘ _No lol_.’

‘ _That’s so nice of you! btw can I ask you a question??_ ’

‘ _That’s already a question_.’

‘ _Boohoo. Can you be my Math tutor?_ ’

Ink hadn’t gotten an answer immediately after that. He kept glancing to the other, waiting to get a ball of paper thrown his way again. He noticed how Error kept staring at the note he passed on, and he was definitely thinking- Ink just didn’t know what. It was just a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question, it wouldn’t take that long to answer, right? Maybe he should’ve added a crying emoticon to better his chances.

Before he got too deep into his thoughts, the paper ball landed on his table at the moment the school bell rang. He didn’t even notice time passing by that quickly and their class had already ended. Everyone else stood up and packed their belongings, one by one marching their way out. Everyone except Ink and Error.

No words by mouth were exchanged as they stared at each other from their own seats; with Error’s eye lights darting back from Ink to the crumpled paper that was in the other’s hands, insisting Ink to start reading it, which he did after opening the piece of paper. Error’s penmanship was really tidy, clearly delivering his message:

‘ _How about a deal instead?_ ’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Error is a big manbaby.  
> But honestly really, my intentions for this chapter was supposed to be cheery and happy but I guess I was just in the mood :P  
> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Also, is it a good idea to reveal my tumblr? It's really empty and I kinda wanna fill it up heh. Let me know in the comments uwu


	6. It's A Deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Error and Ink discuss their deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place right after the previous chapter. Since I haven't posted in so long, I recommend reading the chapter before this. Enjoy :)

“Give me your schedule.” Error demanded, and Ink complied.

They had moved their conversation to the school library, with Error choosing a seat that was secluded and far enough from the librarian’s counter. He had chosen a table with four chairs- two on each side. He had sat down and hoped Ink would sit across him, but the bastard didn’t take the hint. As a result, they were in close proximity, with Ink sitting right next to him. It was definitely outside Error’s comfort zone.

Moments before this, Ink had agreed to the deal, regardless of how Error tried executing it.

_“What kind of deal?” Ink blinked, staring at the piece of paper in his hands. He wasn’t expecting that answer, but it’s better than a ‘No’._

_Error, realizing that voicing out about wanting his chair back as a pact would sound ridiculous, asked, “Uhm, don’t you have class to go to?” He could talk to Ink after school, maybe, if he ever caught him in the halls._

_Ink shook his head. “Free block for me. What about you?”_

_“It’s my free block too.”_

_“We have something in common already!”_

_“…” Error continued, ignoring the beaming grin Ink showed his way. “So, about that deal…” It still sounded ridiculous to him, and he was contemplating whether to go for it or not. He decided not to. “You know what? Forget it. Deal’s off.” In embarrassment, he quickly gathered his things in hopes to take off before Ink started saying anything. Of course, hopes do end up crushing._

_“No! No, wait.” Ink grabbed his forearm to stop Error’s movements, his eye lights beginning to tremble. Error immediately pulled his arm away. Ink didn’t notice the glitches that appeared around the area he touched and the way Error’s face hardened from what he did, so he continued. “I’ll do anything. Whatever it is you’re thinking, I’ll do it. I_ need _to pass this class.”_

_“Why don’t you ask someone else?”_

_“Because we’re friends!”_

_“We are not friends.”_

_“Not with that attitude, mister!” Ink huffed, a pout forming on his face as he crossed his arms. “Please? I’ll be good, I promise.”_

_Error hated promises. He also hated Ink’s face and wanted to punch the pout off of it. But there was that determination Ink had that Error did admire and outweighed all his hatred. Apparently, this was the reason Error had agreed to his plea. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” He sighed, finally admitting defeat. “Fine, I’ll tutor you.”_

_Ink couldn’t stop the widening grin on his face as his eye lights changed to bright yellow stars, a sign that he was excited. “Can I hug you?” His smile faded slightly when Error rejected with a shake of his head, but he was still relieved regardless. I mean, Error finally agreed! Isn’t that great? “What do you want in return?”_

“I still think your deal’s ridiculous.” Ink sounded a short laugh, handing out his schedule to Error who looked like he was fuming. Understandable, because as they were negotiating before, Ink had brought up that he could actually give Error’s seat back _then_. He later proceeded to falter Error’s triumphant victory by saying that now, he needed to work in order to get his chair back.

 _“A deal’s a deal, right?”_ What a tease.

“You have a free block before Math? No wonder you’re always so early…” Error huffed, scanning the paper he was holding and reminiscing every time he saw Ink in the class. He just thought the guy was a fast walker. Flinching at the feeling of Ink’s knee hitting his own, he slammed the schedule down a little too hard as he drove his knee away. _Does this guy know the meaning of personal space?_

“Yeah! And I have one right now. With you.”

Error tried his best to avoid eye contact with Ink, stubbornly forcing down the blush that was creeping up to his cheeks. _‘With you.’_ He shuddered at the way Ink had said those last two words. It sounded a bit… suggestive. He shouldn’t think so much of it.

“That means we can use up this block.” There goes his usual routine of sleeping in the broadcasting studio. He cleared his throat, finally calming his thoughts. Ink was still gazing at him, unbeknownst to him that it made Error _very_ uncomfortable. “Can I take a look at your assignments? I wanna see what I’m working with.”

“…” Ink blinked. “My dog ate them.”

“ _Ink_.”

“Fine!” Ink shot his hands upwards in defeat, then scrambled for his bag. Error was glad they were far from the librarian’s hearing range, Ink was kind of loud. The latter kept murmuring under his breath as he searched through his bag, and then, with a ‘Huzzah!’, he revealed one piece of paper. Just _one_.

“Ink.”

“Yes?”

“Where’s the rest?” Error took hold of the piece of paper. He noticed the edges of it were crumpled. One look at the content left him grimacing in his seat. There were many cancellations of the same workings and each question had no clear answer to it. There were no markings from their teacher, so Ink definitely had not handed it in yet. His handwriting was also a monstrosity. Okay, he was exaggerating there. Ink’s penmanship was readable. Not nice, but readable. Wait, why is there… blue paint on his paper?

“What do you mean ‘the rest’?” Ink tilted his head in confusion, then settled on resting his chin on his palm. “We have more?”

“Yes.” As patient as he could be, Error definitely regretted his deal. Welp, no turning back now. “What’s going through that head of yours?”

Ink pouted at his statement, crossing his arms and furrowing his brow bones at Error. “Not my fault I suck at Math.” Seriously, he’s been saying that for the past few chapters. “I probably didn’t note down the past few assignments. My memory’s kind of bad.”

 _I guess I have to be his personal reminder, too_. Error thought, adding that to his list of responsibilities. “Alright. You’re a lot to work with. I need your number.”

“I don’t think that’s how flirting works.”

A shade of blue that Ink liked once again covered Error’s cheeks, his voice sounding panicky as he stated, “I’m not flirting with you!” He ignored the judging stare of the passing librarian, as well as the ‘shh’ sound that was coming out of her mouth. Now Ink’s making him loud. Oh, and _please_ , Error knew how to flirt and he definitely was not going to use his tricks on Ink. “I need your number because of this stupid deal.”

Ink laughed, gaining the attention of the librarian again, before getting his notebook out and flipping to an empty page. Error mentally apologized to the librarian who was already done with their bullshit. Why’d she have to pass by them at that exact time?

As Ink scribbled down his number and added unnecessary doodles, Error took his time to look at the smaller’s assignment once more, the crossing of answers ticking him off every second that passed.

“Was there no good Math tutor in your previous school?”

“I…” Ink’s voice had gone quiet, his movements stopping on a drawing of chibi Error.. “I was home-schooled. My teachers specialized in the Arts.” _My parents_ , was what Ink wanted to say, but it felt unnecessary. This was not how he wanted to remember them. Desperate to change the topic, Ink teared off the page he had written his number on and gave it to Error. “Here.”

“Thanks.” Error saw how the air around Ink changed in those few seconds, and he made a mental note to himself. _Ask about his childhood._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter for today because I took a 2 month break and I forgot how to do the grind of writing long chapters. My apologies!   
> And this was very much overdue, so here's my tumblr: lady-daffodil.tumblr.com. It's quite empty, but you guys can help me liven in up yeah? Ask me questions about whatever. I don't mind if they're personal- though there are limits heh.
> 
> Longer chapters will come out soon, I promise! For now, this is my return chapter.

**Author's Note:**

> Error just wants his chair back.
> 
> Forgive me in advance, this is my first work and I had this stupid prompt, so I decided to write it out. I'm also quite new to the fandom and I was pulled further into it by Error and Ink, so I'm really whipped. 
> 
> Updates might be irregular, considering my situation right now but I'll try to do it from time to time! If you got this far, thanks for reading, you lovely mayonnaise u 3 u


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